Saturday, June 11, 2016

Autism Awareness Cards or Go Namaste yourself.

I've never made cards like this or handed them out before.

Thinking about it as we leave our sweet, safe little Vancouver community nest to travel a bit this summer, I'd like to be uber-prepared, just in case.
Starer-ers, snickerers, and pointers are not my favorite people but I usually ignore them or try to give them a straight on for reals, Namaste-yourself-I-see-you-and-I-still-love-you smile saying we are just fine thank you. Happy, even.

However, as we venture far out into areas unknown in challenging new ways, I want to make sure Dan has backup, and if I don't have the emotional (or sleep) resources to bring forth my namaste-self, then I might need to just hand out a card --really it would be to make myself feel better.

But families, just so you know, I have mixed feelings about these things...

Part of me is like; "It's no one else's business and effing back off if you are disturbed by my obviously struggling child or I will shank you." We're here, we're weird, get used to it. If your child is being rude that's not my problem, really, why does it become your business when mine has a meltdown?

But the other part of me is like, "Well, I get that it's weird, and sometimes watching this stuff is scary if you've never seen it. --So you should probably learn about it so that the next time you run into this you aren't going to be a judgy jerk. Here is my helping you do that."

I don't want the extra attention, and I don't want to make excuses.
Maybe I just know I'll be tired at some point and not have the energy to fight for my son's dignity in the way I like to best, modeling with grace and pride, humor and love. If I have a card to hand out maybe it'll keep me from being snarky back, which is not what I want to do.

Anyway Stimmers, I'm prepared for the worst, hoping for the best! Either way we are doing this thing.If you print out double-sided they're a little off, but close enough for horseshoes and autism.

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Everybody Stims?

Yup. We all do it. "Stim" or Stimming refers to Self-Stimulation and can impact social interaction and function. Rocking, spinning, humming, eating, chewing your nails and facebook are some common stims to both individuals with and without Autism to help us organize our minds, relax or just feel good.

Trust me, I'm a mom of two boys on the Autism Spectrum and pediatric occupational therapist: Everybody Stims. People with Autism are often just not as good at hiding when they do it.

This is my blog to talk about these types of things. Thanks for dropping by.